Poems for Diwali

Diwali Poems

One of the most important Hindu festivals, Diwali has different significances for different people. While some view it as an opportunity to indulge in funfilled celebrations, it is a great religious occassion for others who believe that it is a time for spiritual betterment and sacred observances. Here we bring you a collection of poems from some of the greatest Hindu seer poets who were filled with great religious feelings that they could express in beautiful verses. If you like our assortment of "Diwali Poems", click here and forward this page to all your friends and dear ones. Wish you a happy and prosperous Diwali!

Read and enjoy these translated versions of great poems by some of India's greatest seers. All these beautiful works centre around Goddess Kali, a prominent Hindu deity who is worshipped in many places of the country during Diwali.

Kali The Mother

The stars are blotted out,
The clouds are covering clouds.
It is darkness vibrant, sonant.
In the roaring, whirling wind
Are the souls of a million lunatics
Just loosed from the prison-house,
Wrenching trees by the roots,
Sweeping all from the path.
The sea has joined the fray,
And swirled up mountain-waves,
To reach the pitchy sky.
The flash of lurid light
Reveals on every side
A thousand, thousand shades
Of Death begrimed and black-
Scattering plagues and sorrows,
Dancing mad with joy,
Come, Mother, come!
For terror is Thy name,
Death is in thy breath,
And every shaking step
Destoys a world for e'er.
Thou Time, the All-destroyer!
Come, O Mother, come!
Who dares misery love,
And hug the form of Death,
Dance in destruction's dance
To him the Mother comes.

~ Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902).

Who Knows How Mother Plays

Perchance a prophet thou-
Who knows? Who dares touch
The depths where Mother hides
Her silent failless bolts!
Perchance the child had glimpse
Of shades, behind the scenes,
With eager eyes and strained,
Quivering forms-ready
To jump in front and be
Events, resistless, strong.
Who knows but Mother, how,
And where, and when, they come?
Perchance the shining sage
Saw more than he could tell;
Who knows, what soul, and when,
The Mother makes Her throne?
What law would freedom bind?
What merit guide Her will,
Whose freak is greatest order,
Whose will resistless law?
To child may glories ope
Which father never dreamt;
May thousandfold in daughter
Her powers Mother store.

~ Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902).

Mother Kali, Mother Kali,
Mother of the world-transforming
and world-illumining
Fiery Dance,
O Mother, You are at once the destruction-flood
Of Concern-Light and Compassion-Ocean
For our heart's aspiration-flame

~ Sri Chinmoy.

O Kali, Mother Full of Bliss

O Kali, my Mother full of Bliss!
Enchantress of the almighty Siva!
In Thy delirious joy Thou dancest,
clapping Thy hands together!
Eternal One! Thou great First Cause,
clothed in the form of the Void!
Thou wearest the moon upon Thy brow.

Where didst Thou find
Thy garland of heads before the universe was made?

Thou art the Mover of all that move, and we are but Thy helpless toys;
We move alone as Thou movest us and speak as through us Thou speakest.
But worthless Kamalakanta says, fondly berating Thee:
Confoundress! With Thy flashing sword
Thoughtlessly Thou has put to death my virtue and my sin alike!

~ Sadhak Kamalakanta (c. 1769 - 1821).

This time I shall devour Thee utterly, Mother Kali!

This time I shall devour Thee utterly, Mother Kali!
For I was born under an evil star,
And one so born becomes, they say, the eater of his mother.
Thou must devour me first, or I myself shall eat Thee up;
One or the other it must be.

I shall besmear my hands with black
and with black my face;
With black I shall besmear the whole of my body.
And when Death seizes me,
with black I shall besmear his face.

O Mother, I shall eat Thee up
but not digest Thee;
I shall install Thee in my heart
And make Thee offerings with my mind.
You may say that by eating Kali
I shall embroil myself
with Kala, Her Husband,
but I am not afraid;
Braving His anger,
I shall chant my Mother's name.
Come what may, I shall eat Thee up —
Thee and Thy retinue —
Or lose my life attempting it.

~ Sadhak Ramprasad Sen (c. 1718/1723 – c. 1775).

Is My Mother Really Black?

Is my black Mother Syama really black?
People say Kali is black,
but my heart doesn't agree.
If She's black,
how can She light up the world?
Sometimes my Mother is white,
sometimes yellow, blue, and red.
I cannot fathom Her.
My whole life has passed
trying.

She is Matter,
then Spirit,
then complete Void.

It's easy to see
how Kamalakanta
thinking these things
went crazy.

~ Sadhak Kamalakanta (c. 1769 - 1821).

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